Mother And Children Found Stabbed to Death In Brooklyn; Scandal Over U.S. Spying After Its Allies Continues

Aired October 27, 2013 - 06:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: I know it is early on a Sunday morning. 6:00. I'm impressed you're up. I'm Christi Paul. Thank you for being with us.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Miguel Marquez. It is 6:00 here in the East and 3:00 out west in Los Angeles.

PAUL: In your area. Your neck of the woods at the moment.

MARQUEZ: Good Sunday morning to you all.

PAUL: Yeah, so I hate to start our morning by bringing you this kind of news, but ...

MARQUEZ: We do begin with breaking news in a shockingly sad story out of New York City.

Five people, including four children, between the ages of one and nine, were found stabbed to death inside their Brooklyn home. Details are still trickling in, but here's what we know for now.

PAUL: Police responded to a 911 call, just before 11:00 Eastern last night and they found five people unconscious. All with stab wounds to their upper bodies.

MARQUEZ: Police at the scene took a man into custody, but he has not yet been charged. CNN's Alexandra Field is in New York. Alexandra, what do we know about the victims or about that person in custody?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi and Miguel, a deeply disturbing story to start the day, clearly. And investigators have been working through the night to try and put this together. What they're telling us at this point, is that all five of those victims, four children, one adult, had stab wounds in the same area, the upper part of their body. Police responded to the Brooklyn home after getting a call last night that one person had been stabbed. They found a chilling scene when they arrived there, a nine-year-old girl, a seven-year old girl, and a one-year-old boy, all killed. Police then rushed a five-year-old boy and a 37-year old woman with stab wounds to the hospital. Both of them later died. One person on the scene was taken into custody. Police have not said whether or not that person could be related to any of the victims. Still a lot of questions on this case. Christi, Miguel? PAUL: Well, it sounds like there was a lot, obviously, going on there that night. Have neighbors talked and given any reaction at this point or any insight into this family?

FIELD: We have not learned what the relationship is between these five people who were inside the house, the four children, the one adult, and then the suspect, or the person who was taken into custody on the scene. You can see that that home was close to a number of other homes on that Brooklyn street. People were pouring out of their homes. We heard from one man who said that he saw police go into the house and bring two people out on stretchers, but a lot of pieces and parts to connect here.

MARQUEZ: Awful, awful story. Thank you for giving up with that there. Alexandra Field for us in New York. Thank you.

PAUL: And this story breaking as well this morning. A stabbing on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.

MARQUEZ: Authorities have the campus on lockdown while police search for a man with a knife. University employee says the suspect got into a fight with another student and stabbed him in the back. The victim is in the hospital and apparently he'll be OK.

PAUL: For the first time, we're hearing from the mother of Philip Chism now, 14-year-old boy charged with killing at Danvers, Massachusetts, teacher. And through her son's attorney, Diana Chism says, quote, "Her heart is broken for the Ritzer family and the loss of their daughter and sister Colleen." She continues, her son was born in love and is dear, very dear to her. She's struggling to understand this. Now, Philip Chism is charged as an adult with the murder of Colleen Ritzer. Police alleged he killed the algebra teacher with a box cutter and dumped her body in the woods behind Danvers High School.

For the Obama administration may have a lot of explaining to do when this team of top German intelligence officials arrives in Washington soon.

MARQUEZ: Yeah, the German magazine "Der Spiegel" is reporting that the U.S. has been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone for over a decade. No surprise then that this is putting deep strains on relations between the two powers. CNN's Jim Boulden is live from London. Jim, tell us more about these latest allegations.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "Spiegel," the newspaper. It's one of the European newspapers that's been getting drip-fed information from the Edward Snowden files, that they've been released. And "Der Spiegel" themselves have been releasing them. So last night the latest allegation is, as you say, that President Obama -- sorry, that the Obama administration could have been snooping into the phone of Chancellor Merkel and that it could have been going on for more than a decade. And what's interesting about that is Angela Merkel grew up in East Germany. And so we've been wondering why she's been so upset about this, more than maybe some other leaders here in Europe and that sort of adds another twist to it. Because she grew up in the communist East Germany where there was a lot of eavesdropping going on.

So as you say, when those intelligence officials from Germany head to the U.S. in a couple of weeks, they're going to really want to know more details about what happened. "Der Spiegel" also says that the entire political area in Berlin had been monitored just up until the time President Obama went to Berlin a few months ago to make his historic speech at the Brandenburg Gate. And if that's the case, then, it's not just, of course, her phone, but other people's phones as well. So it just continues to grow and grow here in Europe and the anger here continues to grow over this monitoring. Guys?

PAUL: Now, I know just because President Obama told Merkel that he was unaware of the alleged phone bugging. What is the White House saying?

BOULDEN: Well, yes, the White House was asked last night about this, and you know, we did get a comment that said, we don't specifically comment on every intelligence activity, but the NSA did say that the U.S. gathers information and foreign intelligence the way other countries do as well. Now, that comment we've heard before. So, no specific confirmation or denial of this allegation. Because these allegations continue to come out, more and more comes out, we learned more just a few days ago from "The Guardian" newspaper here that some 35 world leaders potentially have their phones tapped by the NSA as well.

MARQUEZ: Yeah. "Der Spiegel" and "The Guardian" reports, "Der Spiegel" is not saying that those documents are from Edward Snowden, "The Guardian" is. But do we know the totality of it? Do we know that if "The Guardian" or "Der Spiegel" is saying it's since 2002, was this just something that was done over the last decade and no one had thought it was wrong? Or - what are they asking for from the American ambassador there?

BOULDEN: Yeah, obviously, they want to know why they were doing this since 2002. And President Obama, according to "Der Spiegel," said he didn't know about it and he would have stopped it if he had known about it. The question is, why would you be snooping on allies' mobile phones? The leaders themselves. We know from watching Ms. Merkel at that summit that she constantly uses her phone. She's always texting on her cell phone as well. So, a lot of information will be going through her phone. A bit like Mr. Obama with his BlackBerry. So, it is something we want to know, if we're allies and we're sharing information, intelligence gathering to stop terrorism, why is it that you're listening to the phones of the leaders. That's what they want to know.

MARQUEZ: Yeah, it would seem to undo - any sort of - anything that was - that you would gain from that would be undone by being found out about it. Jim Boulden for us, thank you very much.

Still to come on "NEW DAY", investigators now saying the five people thrown from a ride at a fair was no accident.

MARQUEZ: New this morning, investigators say an accident at the North Carolina state fair was no accident at all. But the ride operator is facing three felony accounts of assault with the deadly weapon this morning. Police say he tampered with the ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at the state fair and the ride turned upside down and dumped everybody out. There are people who are bleeding really bad.

MARQUEZ: Panicked 911 calls from the North Carolina state fair Thursday night. Witnesses say the vortex ride had stopped, people were getting off, when it restarted. Five people were hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just sounded like a bunch of stuff hitting metal.

MARQUEZ: This morning, the ride operator, 46-year-old Timothy Tutterrow is in custody, charged with three felony accounts of assault with a deadly weapon.

SHERIFF DONNIE HARRISON, WAKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: This ride was tampered with after the inspection and that critical safety devices were tampered with and compromised.

MARQUEZ: The sheriff's office says Tutterrow is an independent ride contractor for a company that only had one ride at the fair, the vortex. More arrests in the incident are possible. The investigation is ongoing.

STEVE TROXLER, STATE AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: It makes me mad to think that anybody would put people's safety in danger like they have. And I'm not mad, I'm furious.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, three of the five people injured Thursday night are still in Raleigh Hospital this morning.

PAUL: Wild temperatures getting back to normal today in the south and northeast. A welcome change after an early season cold snap. You felt it yesterday, didn't you? I know that some of you had not had such chilly air so early in the year, since 1968.

MARQUEZ: In the meantime, the U.K. is bracing for hurricane-force winds. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele in from the cold, is in the CNN severe weather center. Alexandra, what's going on?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, METEOROLOGIST: Hi, good morning to you guys. Well, Miguel and Christi, I mean hurricane force winds, technically, we have to have sustained winds at 74 miles per hour, and we won't see that, but we will see gusts between 60 and 80. So, here's right now the U.K. Now, this area's low pressure, do you see this tight little low spinning? That's bringing gusts to 20. That's not the system we're watching. Here's the area of low pressure that will develop. It will go southwest to northeast. Now, I'll show you some computer models to show you kind of like a hurricane, what the expectation is. Here are the possible tracks. There's the low that's developing. The high probability will kind of go more through the center of the country, most likely track, there it is. Again, gusts, 60 to 80. So even in Paris and London, they will be impacted by very strong winds.

Right now, the temperature is 59. The winds sustained at 20. But we're going to see these winds get to sustained, maybe at 30 to 40, 50-mile-per-hour gusts expected. So the next 48 hours, computer model projections, you can see London, 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts. 34, but then even in Amsterdam and Paris, 43-milee-per-hour wind gusts. So maybe you're flying internationally, you may be affected by this. Here's the winds, you can see, as we head towards the next 24 hours, them calming down at the end of a period.

The worst of it tonight and into tomorrow. There's the rain moving through at about local time 20 to UTC, which is 10:00 at night. That's when the heaviest rain will be. But computer models actually only saying maybe between one and two inches of rain. So, the bark may be a little bit worse than the bite with this.

But, again, it's autumn. So it's the timing of this that really will be problematic. The winds blowing all the leaves down, and also power lines down and transportation being disrupted, especially the rails and the roads.

Big picture here in the U.S. Again, temperatures kind of bottomed out. You saw that, Christi showed you that in the beginning. But then what we're going to see is temperatures really begin to warm up, guys. So, we're on the rise, except for there's a snowstorm in the northern Rockies we'll talk about.

PAUL: Of course there is!

STEELE: Yeah, of course!

PAUL: So, it can be a Halloween snowstorm.

MARQUEZ: But I see giant suns across the entire country.

STEELE: Yeah, everyone is warming up ...

MARQUEZ: I'm feeling hot just looking at that map.

PAUL: OK. Alexandra steel, thank you.

STEELE: Sure.

PAUL: That is kind of not true, I know. You're used to your L.A. weather. You're not getting it here.

MARQUEZ: That's right. That's right.

PAUL: All right, still to come on "NEW DAY," oh, my goodness, a wild ending of game three, the World Series last night!

MARQUEZ: Why do I have to sleep? What is - one that you've probably never seen in baseball - you've never seen in a baseball game before. We'll show you the highlights, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Now for an update on mortgages for you this morning, rates ticked slightly lower this past week. Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right, that's the kind of music that's goings to wake us up, people. And hello to all of our friends in St. Louis, waking up with us this morning. Capitol building here in the forefront. Only seeing that it's taking Louis Arch behind it, but it is there.

MARQUEZ: It is. And that will, actually, you can just see it, and it will be overlooking tonight's game, game four. Unbelievable game three. I had to fall -- I fell asleep at the fourth inning.

PAUL: Yeah, I didn't see it as it was happening.

MARQUEZ: I was really annoyed. But if the cards haven't wrapped up, I'm just going to go to sleep now. It's safe. But of course you had to wait until the very last moment. Joe Carter is here with this morning's "Bleacher Report." Joe.

JOE CARTER, "BLEACHER REPORT": Yeah, I woke up to the same kind of wowness. I felt ...

(LAUGHTER)

CARTER: So I (inaudible) I woke up and said, what is this? We've never seen a World Series game be decided on an obstruction call. Now, most people at home are thinking, obstruction, what does that have to do with baseball? That's a rarely used, rarely called rule that was put into effect, but you'll see as I show you the highlights, how it all folds out. What's happened in the bottom of the ninth, St. Louis is at bat, the game is tied four-four. So, Boston makes the play at home here, OK, but then the throw gets away from the third baseman. Alan Craig starts to go home. It looks like he's going to be thrown out at home, right? You can see the umpire calls him safe. The reason why he calls him safe is because the third base umpire calls Will Middlebrooks for obstruction, for tripping, for interfering, whatever you want to call, basically, he impedes on his way from going to home base. So, he impedes on his progress. The umpire then awards the base runner the base. So St. Louis could win five at four. It's a walk off obstruction call. They win game three on what people are calling the strangest play to ever end the game in the World Series history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a tough way to have a game end. He's on the ground. He is, you know, if he tries to raise up, then he's clearly getting in his way. You know, for Craig to try to advance to home plate. But, you know, they - he got tangled up with him, and that was the call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: All, right, let's talk a little racing now. Darrel Wallace Junior made history. But he's the first African-American driver to win at the sports' national level in 50 years. He won the truck series event at Martinsville speedway. Now, Wallace who just turned 20 this month is a graduate of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program, which helps multi-cultural and female drivers advance in the sport of NASCAR.

And trending this morning on bleacherreport.com as the San Francisco 49ers and the Jacksonville Jaguars get set to play their game in London later today, Roger Goodell was asked yesterday if he prefers the league's next franchise to be in London or back in Los Angeles. Now, Goodell said he wants both and that he doesn't care which one happens first. And of course, several players and several coaches have publicly said they do not, do not want a team based in London. Obviously, travel is a big issue. Weather is an issue.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ: They're having a hurricane tonight.

PAUL: Miguel lived in London for three years.

MARQUEZ: And I live in Los Angeles now. So, I'm split on this one. All right, big game four tonight. I mean, the first game of the series, a blowout, the second one, hard fought. This one, controversial. What's tonight?

CARTER: Two best teams in baseball living up to everything we expected it to be in this World Series, which has been great.

MARQUEZ: Smooth answer. Smooth answer, Joe Carter.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: You could be a politician.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ: Or an NFL commissioner. I love you both equally.

PAUL: Here we go, Joe cuts hair! As I like to call him. Thank you so much.

You know, when I said back to me - when I was talking about - how old I am.

MARQUEZ: Oh, dear. I'm not going to comment.

PAUL: Thank you.

MARQUEZ: Still to come on "NEW DAY," Jay-Z breaks his silence over the Barneys controversy and his plans for an upcoming collaboration.

PAUL: But what he has to say, may not be what his fans want to hear. However, first.

MARQUEZ: Each week we're shining a spotlight on the top ten CNN heroes of 2013. As you vote for the one who inspires you or impresses you the most.

PAUL: And this week's honoree has made it his mission to clean up the trash dumped in American rivers. Meet Chad Pregracke.

I grew up around the Mississippi River. Around the age of 17 I really started to focus on the problem. 18 million people get their daily drinking water from the river.

I'm thinking, this should not be like this. This stuff just collects here and it goes on for blocks like this. It's a bad deal. I said you know what, if no one is going to do anything about it, I will.

I'm Chad Pregracke. With the help of over 70,000 volunteers, we've removed over 7 million pounds of garbage from America's rivers.

(on camera) You guys ready?

UNIDENTIFIED MALES AND FEMALES: Yeah!

PREGRACKE (voice over): Our primary focus is the Mississippi River.

(on camera): You guys would be amazed in two hours how much stuff we get.

(voice over): In all, we've worked on 22 rivers in 18 states. We do everything in our power to get people excited about it. Because, you know, it's just - you are out there, picking up garbage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, did you just throw a basketball.

PREGRACKE (on camera): It's yours. It's totally yours.

Little by little we're getting it.

(voice over): But you're having fun they'll have fun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew I was going to be sweating, but I didn't think I would be singing karaoke on a boat.

PREGRACKE: People want to see change and they're stepping up to make change.

(on camera): That was the last bag! Come on, let's give it up! Yeah!

(voice over): This is a problem that people created, but a problem that people can fix.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: That is something. And congratulations, Mr. Pregracke. I want to get right. To vote for your favorite heroes, go to heroes.cnn.com. One of the ten will be named CNN Hero of the Yeah and will be awarded $250,000 to further their work.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: I hope that O.J. is waking you up this morning. Welcome back. We're glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

MARQUEZ: And I'm Miguel Marquez. This is the bottom of the hour now. Here are the five things you need to know for your new day.

PAUL: Number one, a grim discovery in New York. Police found five people, including four children between the ages of one and nine stabbed to death inside their home. This happened in Brooklyn. A man was taken into custody at the scene. He has not been charged. Police, we know, responded to a 911 call and found all five victims unconscious with stab wounds to their upper bodies.

MARQUEZ: Awful, awful story. At number two, a new report claims the U.S. has been spying on German chancellor Angela Merkel's phone for over a decade. "Der Spiegel" magazine cites a secret U.S. intelligence file. In a sign of growing outrage, Germany has summoned the U.S. ambassador and a team of senior German intelligence officials will soon head to Washington, D.C.

PAUL: Number three, a ride operator at the North Carolina state fair is facing three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon this morning. Police say Timothy Tutterrow tampered with the ride's safety mechanism. Five people were hurt Thursday night as they were getting off the vortex when that ride suddenly started up again.

And number four, a Tennessee man facing weapons charges. Port Authority police say he checked a loaded rifle and other illegal firearms at New York's JFK airport. Now, it's legal to carry a rifle in New York City, but only if it's unloaded. Investigators say some weapons had their serial numbers covered by paint, which, by the way, is also a crime.

MARQUEZ: And number five, the New York Stock Exchange wants to make sure Twitter's IPO goes smoother than Facebook's. Traders did an electronic test run Saturday and say everything went well. Facebook stock offering had technical glitches, causing the stock to stumble. Twitter's IPO to date has not yet been set.

PAUL: New this morning, Jay-Z is breaking his silence over two incidents of alleged racial profiling at Barneys and slamming the media for dragging him into the fray over a deal he has with the company.

MARQUEZ: The rapper issued a statement on his website on Saturday saying, quote, "I move and speak based on facts and not emotion. I haven't made any comments because I am waiting on the facts and the outcome of a meeting between community leaders and Barneys. Why am I being demonized, denounced, and thrown on the cover of a newspaper for not speaking immediately?" He went on to say, "I have been working with my team ever since the situation was brought to my attention to get to the bottom of these incidents and find a solution that doesn't harm all those that stand to benefit from this collaboration."

PAUL: Portions of the proceeds from Jay-Z's Barneys collaboration are going to go to a charity run by his Shawn Carter Foundation. Now, the response stems from two incidents involving African-American customers at luxury retailer Barneys. Both shoppers say police were called to question them after making expensive purchases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAYON CHRISTIAN, SAYS HE WAS RACIALLY PROFILED AT BARNEYS: Undercover cops on my left side that had regular clothes on stopped me from the left side and acting like, oh, I just got a call from Barneys saying your card is not real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Jay-Z's decision to hold off on judgment may disappoint one of those shoppers, who apparently called on the superstar himself to take action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLA PHILLIPS, SAYS HE WAS RACIALLY PROFILED AT BARNEYS: Jay-Z, he is a very busy man. I know when he do get involved, he'll make the right choice. I don't think he should do anymore business with Barneys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Jay-Z's holiday collaboration, by the way, is set to debut next month. Barneys has apologized over those incidents.

You might have to dig a little deeper into your pocket the next time you stop at McDonald's.

MARQUEZ: Well - why? Because the fast food giant is revamping its dollar menu, I heard about this, to rev up sales. As CNN's Christine Romans reports, some of its rivals are reworking their offerings as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Seen the hamburger lately? It might be time for McDonald's to bring back the burger bandit. Slow sales, menu flops, reaching beyond the brand, and now the end of the dollar menu as we know it. Starting in November, get ready for the dollar menu and more, with new items up to $5. McDonald's CEO says it promotes value at different price points. It's the latest attempt to bring in business and bank more bucks. And Burger King is trying to play the fitness first game with low-fat fries, but are customers satisfried? It's too early to tell. Meanwhile, Wendy's is getting a makeover. Wendy's revamping its image and its stock price has doubled in the past year. Its sizzling new menu item, a pretzel bacon cheeseburger.

HOWARD PENNEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR HEDGEYE RISK MANAGEMENT: Wendy's has definitely gotten back to its core foundation. It's quality, it's freshness, it's burgers, it's fries, it's cokes, it's, you know, what people go to a Wendy's for. And, you know, McDonald's is you know, trying to do all things to all people.

ROMANS: So does McDonald's need to keep its eye on the fries?

PENNEY: To grow again, they actually need to shrink. So if they take their menu and eliminate those menu items that aren't selling, then people will gravitate to the items that are more popular.

ROMANS: Tell that to Starbucks. After conquering coffee, the Seattle house of high-priced hot liquids is opening tea houses.

HOWARD SCHULTZ, CEO STARBUCKS: The acquisition of juice, the acquisition of food, the Tevana relationship, all of that is enhancing the experience with Starbucks, creating different need states for our customers and recognizing that these things are about creating complementary experiences for our coffee customer.

ROMANS: But back in burger land, customers would rather keep it simple.

PENNEY: McDonald's is the biggest restaurant company on the planet for a reason. It's done one thing well for 50 years. It sells burgers, fries, and coke.

ROMANS: Mess with the menu, and you may just get grimaced. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: I was hoping for a hamburglar reference there.

PAUL: Here you go.

MARQUEZ: And McDonald's is making another big change. Soon you won't be able to get Heinz ketchup at its fast food outlet. The (inaudible) says it's ending its 40-year relationship with the condiment maker because changes, the new boss at Heinz is the former chief executive of its archrival, Burger King. This change may be you felt more overseas, since the only U.S. restaurants that have Heinz are Pittsburgh and Minneapolis. I did not know that. Little-known Heinz ketchup fact.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ: Thank god for that.

PAUL: We're going to make sure that you know what we're talking about in the morning. Even if it's just that little normism from (inaudible)

MARQUEZ: Yes.

PAUL: It was a scandal, though, that toppled a British institution. Now two former editors at the fettered news of the world are headed to court.

MARQUEZ: What that verdict could mean for the way England's notoriously aggressive journalists practice their trade.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Some sad news this morning from the Bob Newhart show, to the Simpsons. Marcia Wallace made generations of TV viewers laugh.

MARQUEZ: Mrs. Krabappel today Hollywood is mourning the death of the veteran actress, she won an Emmy for her portrayal of Bart Simpson's fourth grade teacher, and nemesis, Edna Krabappel. Marcia Wallace was 70. Lovely voice.

Former San Francisco 49-ers quarterback Steve Young made his last snap for the team back in 1999, but in the New Year, he will take home a million bucks. That's because of the contract Young signed with the USFL back in 1984. It guaranteed the hall of famer will get paid through the year 2027. Starting on January 1st, he gets a million bucks a year, then it goes up to 3.2 million by 2027. I want that deal. Now let's go around the world with Christi Paul.

PAUL: All I can say is good luck with that, Miguel. All right, we want to begin in London, where the scandal that brought down Rupert Murdoch's "News of the World" that's is heading to court. Our Erin McLaughlin is following the case. Good morning, Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the story that will forever change the way many journalists work here in the U.K. The trial of two former executives at the now shuttered "News of the World" begins Monday. Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson face charges in connection with a phone hacking scandal, a case that prompted an inquest into how the press works, with politicians, celebrities, and the police. Both Brooks and Coulson deny the charges against them. Back to you, Christi.

PAUL: All right, Erin. Thank you. Now to Nigeria. Where new leads just surfaced about who may have kidnapped two U.S. citizens from their oil supply ship. CNN international correspondent Vladimir Duthiers is in Lagos. Vlad.

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Nigerian Navy has launched a search and rescue mission to try and locate the two American sailors abducted from their oil vessel in the Gulf of Guinea Wednesday. Now, the ship was attacked off the coast of Brass, which is in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Up until 2009, this area was notorious for kidnappings by groups like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta or MEND. They became inactive when the government offered them amnesty in exchange for laying down their arms, but late this week, emails reportedly from MEND have been sent to various media outlets, including CNN claiming some connection to this recent attack. We can't verify if these are, indeed, from MEND, but if they are resurgent, it could be a very worrisome development in a country already struggling with a Muslim insurgency group Boko Haram in the northeast. Back to you, Christi.

PAUL: All right, Vlad, thank you so much. And finally, let's go to Saudi Arabia, where dozens of women climbed into the driver's seat to demand more freedom. CNN international correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom has the story there. Hi, Mohammed.

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM: Christi, it was an extraordinary display of civil disobedience as dozens of women got behind the wheel on Saturday and defied the driving ban in Saudi Arabia, the last country on earth where women are prohibited from driving. Now, at least six women were stopped by police when they were spotted driving. They were made to sign pledges that they would not drive again and they were not released until their male guardians came to pick them up. Christi?

PAUL: Wow. Mohammed, thank you so much. Mohammed Jamjoom there. Miguel, all I can say is, I'm glad that I can drive home today.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ: Well, you know, we have a little more international news here. We have new pictures of the royal family. Who doesn't like baby pictures? Come on. This just-released image shows Prince William and Kate Duchess gazing down at their little Prince George. George was welcomed into the Church of England this past Wednesday in an intimate ceremony, featuring not two, but seven godparents. Of course, seven godparents, because they're royals. To tell us more about this, we're joined by our editorial producer, Nadia Bilchik. Nadia, who in the world are all these people?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN PRODUCER: While, one journalist described them as a motley crew ...

(LAUGHTER)

BILCHIK: Raging in age and social status. So, let's start with a friend of William and Kate's, which is unusual to have a friend instead of a royal, and they put Oliver Baker, who both William and Kate met when they were at St. Andrew's University. And then they've got Julia Samuels, who was a dear friend of the late Princess Diana, so a tribute to her. And then you have, unusually, somebody who worked and works for the royal family, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, and he was the secretary to Harry, William and Kate and still works for the family. And then my very favorite, the 22-year-old, Hugh Earl of Grosvenor. Now, his father is the Duke of Westminster, worth something like, wait for this, 7.3 billion pounds. That's about $12 billion.

MARQUEZ: Not bad.

BILCHIK: The young early had a 21st birthday party that was 5 million pounds, around $8 million. The dress, and I know you'll be very interested in this, was black tie and neon, and they had rappers and other fabulous entertainment.

MARQUEZ: Oh, my god. I'm so worried that this baby isn't going to be well cared for, Nadia.

BILCHIK: Exactly.

MARQUEZ: This is - so they broke the rules with the godparents.

BILCHIK: Break the rules with the godparents.

MARQUEZ: How else did they break the rules? BILCHIK: Well, the one rule that they kept was having Zara Phillips, who is Prince William's first cousin. So the daughter of Princess Ann and the niece of Prince Charles. So Zara Phillips, in fact, is also a godparent. So there they kept with tradition. But broke with tradition by having a very small ceremony. Only the senior royals, Kate's family, and the godparents and their spouses. Also, instead of having the ceremony at Buckingham Palace, they had it at the Chapel at St. James' Palace. Again, a tribute to Diana, because it's where she lay in repose for the five days before she was buried.

MARQUEZ: Oh, sweet.

BILCHIK: But I do want you to know, talking about sweet ...

MARQUEZ: Please.

BILCHIK: The cake was sweet.

MARQUEZ: How was it?

BILCHIK: It was.

MARQUEZ: How sweet was it?

BILCHIK: It was, because ...

MARQUEZ: This was set up?

BILCHIK: No.

(LAUGHTER)

BILCHIK: This was the cake. Exactly, this was the cake that was served at the royal wedding of William and Kate in 2011, so it was the top tier of the cake was served as the christening cake. It was fruitcake. But whatever happens, Miguel, we'll be hearing a lot more about Prince George. We already know that he's going to Australia in 2014. He'll be a very well-travelled and very well-focused child.

MARQUEZ: I'm worried about this kid. It's going to be tough. It's going to be a rough one.

BILCHIK: Prince George.

MARQUEZ: Nadia Bilchik, thank you very much.

BILCHIK: Thank you.

PAUL: You know, it's been a year since the wind blew and the water rose. We're going to tell you about changes in hurricane forecasting since Superstorm Sandy ripped up the East Coast. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Happy Sunday. I know you're looking forward to the week ahead, so let's let you know what's on the calendar. First of all, on Tuesday, did you know it is the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy already? One year ago, that storm made landfall along the coast of southern New Jersey, of course. And then on Wednesday, all eyes on Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. Expected to testify, obviously, in D.C., about the Obamacare website fiasco. And also on Wednesday, a judge is expected to hear arguments in Kendrick Johnson's death case. That's the teen who was found dead in that rolled up gym mat. Death was originally ruled accidental, remember, but his parents believe otherwise.

Let's move on to Thursday. I know you're all getting ready for this already. Happy Halloween, of course. Moving into Friday. Jesse Jackson Jr., he's expected to report to prison on Friday. The former representative and his wife, remember, pled guilty to using $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use.

And next Sunday, one week from today, the New York City marathon returns! I know those of you running are already in your training mode. But remember, this was canceled last year in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. 26.2-mile marathon attracts about 47,000 runners and 12,000 volunteers, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Great to see New York getting back on its feet. And as Christi mentioned, the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy is this Tuesday. It's time to reflect on what went right and what went wrong. Hurricane forecasters admit they flubbed things a bit and they are making changes so it doesn't happen again. Here's CNN's John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the people who lived through it, Hurricane Sandy was a nightmare. For emergency managers and forecasters, Sandy was a nauseating mess.

RICK KNABB, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: We had a difficult dilemma on our hands.

ZARRELLA: Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb says next time there won't be a dilemma. Why requires looking at what happened. Forecasters knew Sandy was morphing, becoming a superstorm. While it had hurricane force winds and pushed that wall of water called storm surge towards the coastline, by the time it made landfall, it wouldn't be a hurricane, technically.

CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA DIRECTOR: Of all the disasters we deal with, hurricanes are the ones that we map and spend a lot of time trying to figure out who's at risk and then get the messaging out there for them to evacuate with time to leave.

ZARRELLA: But the message may have been missed. There wasn't a hurricane warning because, again, technically, Sandy wasn't one. To avoid what it felt would be confusion and misrepresenting the storm, the National Weather Service decided to go with high wind and flood warnings.

KNABB: There is no doubt that the phrase hurricane warning is more attention getting.

ZARRELLA: It's impossible to say whether some lives would have been saved if the attention-getting phrase would have been in place. But in the wake of Sandy, policy has changed, allowing watches and warnings to go up, regardless of what you call the storm. There are other changes coming too, part of an ongoing process in the works even before Sandy. Evacuation zones are changing from Maine to Texas, because hurricane forecasters and researchers have a better understanding than they did a decade ago of the storm surge from monsters like Sandy.

JAMIE RHOME, STORM SURGE EXPERT: When you put those big storms into our model, they produce more surge. So we re-did all of our modeling, which meant that everybody had to update their evacuation zones, which means that most evacuation zones have gotten larger.

ZARRELLA: Another new model will make it easier for people to look at and evaluate the risk from storm surge. All of these new tools are designed to make sure the public gets the message. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: That's, of course, John Zarrella, the one and only on those changes that the National Hurricane Center made after Sandy.

PAUL: Have you reported in a hurricane?

MARQUEZ: I have. I was in Key West one time, which is just a trip of a place to go to, even trippier during a storm. It's the strangest things, during this hurricane, because, you know, you go to bed, it's not so bad, a little rain, and then suddenly you wake up and it's ...

PAUL: The world's falling apart!

MARQUEZ: It sounds like the devil is knocking at your door and your building, and just pounding away at things.

PAUL: That was just trying to wake you up this morning.

MARQUEZ: It is crazy. Yeah. Was it? I could use that.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: All right. Still to come on "NEW DAY" a woman rides a horse, yes, a horse to the DMV in protest.

MARQUEZ: Love that.

PAUL: Seriously?

MARQUEZ: So, how did it get to this and what happened when she got there? We are dying to know. We'll have the full story, coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MARQUEZ: Well, we have some pretty cool video this morning in Sicily, southern Italy, of course. Mt. Etna erupted on Saturday, sending molten lava and ash through the air over that little island near Catania. Beautiful, Beautiful Sicily.

PAUL: You've been there?

MARQUEZ: Yeah.

PAUL: No one in a surrounding town had to be evacuated, though local airport said it did close the air space over Sicily for a short time. The volcano is almost always active. There hasn't been a major eruption, though, since 1992.

MARQUEZ: It was only smoking when I was there. Cool, though. Amazing.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been taking a lot of heat for her role in the Obamacare website fiasco.

PAUL: Not only are Republicans calling for her to be fired, you know "Saturday Night Live" jumped in with their take on the botched rollout. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, tonight, I have a number of friendly tips to help you deal with those technical problems. For example, have you tried restarting your computer?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes it helps to turn the computer off and then turn it back on. We don't know why. It just does.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If our website still isn't loading properly, we're probably just overloaded with traffic. Millions of Americans are visiting healthcare.gov, which is great news. Unfortunately, the site was only designed to handle six users at a time.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So if you're in a rush, consider using our low- res website ...

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... with simpler fonts and graphics.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER) PAUL: She's so good!

MARQUEZ: Brutal.

PAUL: Oh, my goodness. You know you've made it when you're on "Saturday Night Live".

MARQUEZ: For Kathleen Sebelius or for both?

PAUL: Well -- Maybe for both, I think. Maybe for both.

MARQUEZ: You know, the Health and Human Services never gets on "Saturday Night Live." That may be a first.

PAUL: That's true!

MARQUEZ: It really raised the game at HHS.

PAUL: She's funny.

MARQUEZ: Amazing.

All right, you thought that was funny and weird, a Virginia woman came up with an interesting way to protest her frustration with the DMV. We all have it and it's our must-see moment of the day.

PAUL: We all have, you know, things we think about how we're going to like to get back at DMV. This is not it, usually. It's illegal to drive to the DMV with a suspended license. And upset about what she says have been days of problematic calls, Ashley Owen said, well, I grabbed my dog, jumped on my horse, Sassy, and I'm going to get my point across.

MARQUEZ: Of course the horse's name is Sassy. After two hours, Owens sorted it all out and rode off into the sunset with her head held high.

PAUL: Good for her!

MARQUEZ: How did they know - she recommends doing this - doing this - she recommends to everybody, do this, if you have a trusted horse that can help you out. Of course, it has to be named Sassy.

PAUL: It does, or it wouldn't work. Thank you so much for starting your morning with us.

MARQUEZ: We've got much more ahead on the next hour of your "NEW DAY," which starts right now.

PAUL: Sassy Sunday to you. So glad to have you on board with us here today. I'm Christi Paul.

MARQUEZ: And I am Miguel Marquez, not so sassy. It's 7:00 on the East Coast, 4:00 out in the Wild West. This is "NEW DAY SUNDAY."

PAUL: We want to start with a developing story for you this morning as well. A stabbing on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington. I want to show you a live picture from the campus right now. I know it's dark, but that is a live picture there.